Putin says U.S. hacking scandal not in Russia's interests

Wednesday, October 12, 2016 - 00:55

Russian president Vladimir Putin says the scandal that has erupted in the United States over allegations Russia hacked Democratic Party emails has not been in Moscow's interests and that both sides in the U.S. election campaign are just using Russia to score points. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).

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ROUGH CUT - SUBTITLED (NO REPORTER NARRATION)
The scandal that erupted in the United States over allegations Russia hacked Democratic Party emails has not been in Moscow's interests and both sides in the U.S. election campaign are just using Russia to score points, Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday (October 12).
The U.S. government on Friday (October 7) formally accused Russia for the first time of a campaign of cyber attacks against Democratic Party organizations ahead of the Nov. 8 presidential election.
And the White House said on Tuesday (October 11) it would consider a variety of responses to the alleged hacks.
"They started this hysteria, saying that this (hacking) is in Russia's interests. This has nothing to do with Russia's interests," President Putin told a business forum in Moscow.
Putin said the accusations were a ploy to divert U.S. voters' attention at a time when public opinion was being manipulated.
The Kremlin said earlier on Wednesday it took a negative view of White House statements about a planned "proportional" response to the alleged cyber attacks.
Putin complained that all sides in the U.S. presidential race were misusing rhetoric about Russia for their own ends, but said Moscow would work with whoever won the election "if, of course, the new U.S. leader wishes to work with our country".
The Russian leader also said it is hard to hold a dialogue with the current U.S. administration because it prefers diktat to dialogue, adding the Kremlin was worried about the worsening of its relations with the United States.